The Devil’s Den

I was a homeless orphan girl. Although I had barely any friends, I never felt lonely. I grew up without ever knowing who my parents were, and I had little memory of my childhood. Nevertheless, I was a very cheerful and lively girl. I never had a care in the world and I usually spent my time gleefully alone in the rubbish dump. However, strangers would usually approach me to warn me about how dangerous the city that I was living in was, and often advise me not to go out alone. Yet, I did not believe them, and I could never be more wrong. Every day, since as far back as I could remember, I would take frequent visits deep into a nearby forest to collect delicious berries to eat. The forest was covered in thorny vines, and every day was a real struggle. The only thing that really set me apart from everyone else was that I owned magic teeth. Every time a tooth fell off, I would phase into the spirit realm for a day; a magical world where everyone had powers. In the spirit world, I was an Elf, and my magical power was to generate electricity with my fingers.

One morning, I was deep in the woods picking some delicious blueberries. I heard a soft humming. “What’s going on?” I thought. I looked around and saw a truck parked on a stretch of road in the woods. It was strange. Vehicles did not ever come this far. Perhaps the driver got lost? I shrugged and turned around to continue picking berries. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pinch on my right waist. I had been hit by a tranquilizer. Before I realized it, a tall muscular man was carrying me back to his truck. I felt dizzy and the world was spinning in circles as the man forcefully placed a thick cotton gag into my mouth, preventing me from screaming.

The truck ride was a very long one. Through a small opening in the truck, I could see the buildings from my vague childhood memories. The truck was driving out of this town. “What’s the job sir?” a customs officer asked. “Just bringing the usual goods, several parcels of tomatoes” the evil man replied. A glimpse of hope appeared. I tried screaming for help, but sedation was a tough foe, and I was fighting a battle which I could not win. After several hours of driving, the truck stopped. The evil man dragged me out of the truck and forced me down a flight of stairs. He then kicked me into an underground bunker, took out his keys, and locked the exit door. The bunker was extremely dark, so dark that I could hardly see anything. I felt my way through the darkness and crept up to a section of the room with a lot of large crates for me to find comfort in. I could hear the soft pour of rain, silenced by the walls of the building. I was accompanied by terrified rats that were scampering over their dead rotting cousins. A few seconds later, I smelled a whiff of rotten burger and fries. As I looked right, I saw a girl’s face several millimetres from mine. I jumped from fright and nearly screamed. I heard a soft voice “Hi, friend”. Startled, I quickly turned around and saw about ten other girls in the room. Some had bruises on their faces, and some others were pregnant. “Who are you? And what’s going on?” I asked. A pregnant girl told me that the evil man’s name is Gunn Black and that he was a God. I was confused and asked for more details. She then explained to me that Gunn was feared by everyone and that he had a voice that was so loud that it rang throughout the globe whenever he spoke. She sounded utterly crazy. She must have been brainwashed. Those poor girls did not deserve to live like this. I had to get them out. We had to escape.

I searched the premise and managed to find a large stone. I picked it up and began hitting the window. “THUD! THUD! THUD!” but the window would not budge, not even a scratch. The room was too secure and all hope seemed lost. Just when I was about to give up, I remembered my magic teeth. I could make one of my magic teeth fall out so that I could get to the spirit realm. There, I could avenge these kidnapped girls by killing Gunn’s spirit. However, I lost my last baby tooth several years ago. So, I decided to pull out one of my adult teeth. I used my hand and forcefully pressed against my tooth. However, it only bent slightly. As adult teeth were really tough, I had to hatch another plan. I decided to run headfirst into a wall. “BANG!” my tooth came out. It dropped onto the floor and started hopping about. I felt a pull toward the tooth, and I was sucked into it with a swirling bluish yellow vortex.

The atmosphere was hazy. I saw trees glowing bright neon blue, and purple dwarves the size of an apple dancing around fuzzy white bushes. I was in the spirit world! The spirit of every living being in the physical world manifested itself physically in the spirit world. The environment was mesmerizing, but I had to stay on track and exact my revenge. But first, I needed to know where Gunn was. In order to get directions, I went to my spiritual home and reunited with my spirit friend, Bonzai. Bonzai was a wise tree dragon spirit who could fly. I had known her since childhood. She had lush leafy hair growing out of her beautiful bark. “Bonzai, could you help me track someone named Gunn Black?” Bonzai nodded her head and leaned down, hinting for me to climb onto her back. I climbed onto Bonzai's back, and she flapped her wings, taking off over the mountains. “WHEEE!” I exclaimed in ecstasy. I was finally spending some time with Bonzai as we did back then when we were children. That was the happiest moment I had in my life. “CHAWWW” Bonzai shrieked. I looked down and saw an arrow sticking into her abdomen, and her orange blood was spewing out. Someone must have shot her down. Bonzai screeched in pain and stopped flying, and we dropped down from the blood-red sunset. As we fell, I hugged Bonzai tightly in an attempt to send her off in a peaceful passing. After falling for a minute, we landed on some trees, which cushioned our landing and saved us. I knelt beside Bonzai; she was bleeding away. My soul drained as her blood did. I realized the curse of reality. Life wasn’t all fun and games as I thought. Death and suffering stormed the skies.

It was daybreak and I was sleepy, but I needed to continue my mission. I could not let Gunn continue his evil kidnapping spree. Taking a deep breath, I tracked through the jungle. The ground was muddy and full of leeches, which caused my legs to be covered in blood. My legs felt weak, but I never stopped walking. Eventually, I reached an open clearing. There I saw a golden building over 10 floors high. Engraved in the walls was the face of Gunn. I must have found the house of this evil overlord.

I heard a soft humming from inside the house. Gunn was definitely inside. I had to come up with a plan to kill him so I examined the area. After I had circled the area, I found a gate at the back of the building. My plan was to shoot him with my bow and arrow the moment he appeared at the gate. I scurried into a nearby thicket of bushes, hid, and waited. Several minutes later, I felt something stroking from my hair down to my neck. Shivers went through my spine as I heard someone whispering slowly into my ear "you didn't actually think you could hide from me, huh?" I jumped, turned around, and saw Gunn Black, a goblin. How did he know I was there when I was perfectly camouflaged? I did not see Gunn exiting the gate, and yet he was beside me. Gunn smiled: “You see, I can teleport, and I chose to teleport beside you. There is nowhere that you can run, and nowhere that you can hide. I have killed your friend, and you are next.” A tear trickled down my cheeks. The pregnant girl was right. Gunn was a God, and he gets whatever he wants. I didn’t want Gunn to punish me, so I knelt on the ground and begged him for forgiveness. Gunn put his hand on my shoulder and whispered: “take a bath with me and I shall forgive you”. It was a disgusting idea, but I thought for a moment and devised a plan to kill Gunn - find a knife and murder him in his sleep. I agreed to take a bath with Gunn as there was no other option. I had to kill Gunn discreetly because I could not afford for him to teleport away to safety.

Gunn walked me into his bathroom. It had a bathtub of water with roses floating on top. Gunn went and sat in the bathtub and asked me to get in. I obliged and climbed into the bathtub with him. I could feel his dirty fingers going through the pockets of air in my hair and touching my scalp. I could not take this molestation any longer and decided to use my electric shock generating power to kill Gunn in the bath. “Rahhk Ana Po Sapa”, I whispered this chant several times to enchant my powers. I could feel a massive vibrant energy coursing through my veins. I knew that the instant I released the stored electricity, the bath water would electrocute and kill anyone in it. But I had to do it. I had to do it for the kidnapped girls. I had to do it for Bonzai. “ZAPPP!” I discharged my stored energy. It was a clear shot. Struck by an enormous bolt of energy, Gunn’s eyes faded to black. I, however, felt an immense pain and was jolted back into the physical realm. Gunn is dead, and I am paralyzed from neck down. I am a cheerless soul, trapped in the devil’s den, and longing for death. My name is Mary White, and this is my story.